Enter the Garden

The chain-linked fence had two openings. Three if you counted the front gate, but that was for official entry only. Boo was no official. The two options open to her were a wide easy-access gap that anyone could stroll right through or a narrow hole behind a thorn-bush over to the side of the building. Boo chose the narrow hole because the wide path was just off a main street. During the day, anyone passing by would easily spot her and even at night when much of the downtown area was deserted - at least cleared of anyone who’d give a damn - one could never be too careful.

It was now dusk and the street outside the building was packed with commuters. People leaving downtown as quickly as possible - which wasn’t all that quickly. One of Boo’s guilty pleasures was to spot a car - preferably one of those giant SUVs with a particularly agitated driver - trapped in rush hour traffic and walk alongside it whistling a tune. Often she had to slow down to keep pace.

Too cold for games now though. She bundled her too-light jacket around her and stepped off the street a few yards beyond the corner of the fence. She passed a dumpster and then doubled back making sure to keep herself hidden as best as she could. The desire to run toward the fence and the building it protected was a strong one, but she managed to control it. The building was an abandoned warehouse that sat alongside a line of railroad tracks just outside the city’s center. The tracks were still occasionally used, but she’d never known a time when the warehouse was in operation. Ruth had seen it in her younger days, though, and said it had done a bustling business as a hub for deliveries into downtown. Now it had another propose. One, Boo believed, that was much more important.

As well as being covered by thorny bushes, the entry point was partially hidden by concrete columns that supported one of the bridges into downtown. Passing a column Boo saw the word “niche” spray-painted on it. There was more broken glass and other debris littering this side of the fence that she’d remembered seeing the last time she’d come. She noted, though, that on the other side - where she was going - the ground was clear and the process of busting up the asphalt had begun. Full patches of grass were beginning to grow. Boo smiled and thought, by Spring this place would really be something to see.

She crossed the glass carefully, remembering her thin-soled shoes, and - upon reaching the opening - she turned her back toward the thorns, pushed the chain links of the fence to the side with her arm and bent down to step through.

She stood for a moment, smiling softly. The building cut the wind which made it noticeably warmer, and dulled both the sounds and the odors of the city. It was a peaceful spot.

Her smile broadened when she heard singing coming from within the building. She turned toward the sound and walked up the stairs onto what once was the loading dock. There were massive steel doors running along the length of the dock, but she headed for a smaller, human-sized door at the far end. She could see the flicker of candlelight through the crack in the door’s old wooden frame. She could smell something savory cooking.

She knocked on the door. Three times, then pause, then three times again. She heard a rustling sound behind the door and then it opened. “Boo!”, said the gray-bearded man who met her. “Come in. Come in.”

She stepped in, took off her jacket and began to sing.